A Year Down Yonder
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| Author | Richard Peck |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Ashlea Shaffer |
| Cover artist | Lily Malcom |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's historical fiction |
| Publisher |
Dial Books Scholastic Inc. Penguin Putnam Inc. |
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Publication date
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October 2000 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 144 pp (first edition, hardback)130 pp (2000) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 42061114 |
| LC Class | PZ7.P338 Yh 2000 |
| Preceded by | A Long Way from Chicago |
| Followed by | A Season of Gifts |
A Year Down Yonder is a novel by Richard Peck published in 2000 and won the Newbery Medal in 2001. It is a sequel to A Long Way from Chicago, which itself received a Newbery Honor.
The year is 1937, and the Great Depression has hit the Dowdel family hard. 15-year-old Mary Alice is sent downstate to live with Grandma Dowdel while her mother and father lived in Chicago. Mary Alice is less than thrilled with the arrangement. Grandma's Hicksville farming community couldn't be more different from Chicago if it tried, and the grandmother Mary Alice remembers from childhood is a no-nonsense country gal.
Having no choice in the matter, Mary Alice arrives by train in September with her beloved cat Bootsie and prized Philco radio. Day one in the new high school finds Mary Alice getting on the wrong side of the local bully, Mildred Burdick. Mildred brazenly follows Mary Alice home, demanding a dollar---but Grandma Dowdel turns the tables on the tyrant, slyly untying Mildred's horse. Faced with a barefoot 5-mile-hike home, Mildred loses interest in making trouble for Mary Alice. October brings plenty of other trouble, however, when another teen hooligan - August Fluke Jr. - gets in the habit of knocking down privies for pre-Halloween amusement. With the help of a strategically strung wire and a pan of glue, Grandma Dowdel trips up Augie's trickery, with a hot coat of glue that sticks "till kingdom come." Luckily, Grandma's treats prove far sweeter than her tricks: at the party, Mrs. Dowdel dishes up home-baked pies made with borrowed pecans and pumpkins.
In November, Armistice Day cracks dawn with a bang when Grandma rises to shine at the annual Turkey Shoot. The Legion Auxiliary ladies serve stew at noon for a dime-a-cup---but with Grandma Dowdel as cashier, this year's price is pay-what-you-can-afford, publicly pressuring the banker, Mr. L.J. Weidenbach, for five dollars. The money Grandma raises is given to Mrs. Abernathy and her son, a war veteran gassed and injured in combat now using a wheelchair.
As the Virgin Mother in the school Christmas pageant, Mary Alice is set to steal the spotlight from the local snob Carleen Lovejoy and make Carleen Lovejoy jealous. The moonlit winter nights find Grandma and Mary Alice trapping foxes; with the extra money, Grandma buys Joey a train ticket and he arrives just in time for the pageant. But when Mildred Burdick's illegitimate baby turns up in the manger, Christmas is anything but a silent night.
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